John Walsh gets back to hunting America's Most Wanted criminals

Professional TV junky Deanna Barnert covers all corner of Tinseltown but good television is her passion. Visiting sets, interviewing industry players and critiquing the final product are all in a day's work, as is losing an evening — or ...

Lifetime takes on crime

Just a few months after the finale episode of America's Most Wanted, John Walsh is back in the game. Lifetime has picked up AMW, one of TV's original reality shows, for a 25th Season that's set to premiere later this year.

Criminals can't get away America's Most Wanted and it seems Fox can't make the show go away, either. After Fox canceled the show in June, the net promised to air four, two-hour specials throughout the year, starting in Oct. Now Lifetime is bringing AMW back for a full season, instead.

"I've always believed there was something very special about America's Most Wanted and that there should be a home for it on television, and I couldn't be happier to now be able [to] bring it back on Lifetime," Walsh said. "We've often been called the court of last resort… now we are back in the game and ready to saddle up for another season to get justice for victims and put dangerous criminals behind bars."

The crime fighting reality show, which premiered in 1988, originally focused on missing persons cases, but ultimately expanded to take on everything from murder to the war on terrorism. Over the years, it's helped rescue 61 children and missing persons and played a part in capturing over 1,100 fugitives in the U.S. and 30 countries, including 17 on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List.

In addition to capturing criminals, AMW continuously won the Saturday night ratings game; while the show and host John Walsh have remained in the forefront of the fight against crime. Walsh even managed to book a sit down interview with President Barack Obama at the White House in 2010.

In spite of all the success on screen and off, this isn't the first time AMW has been cut from the Fox schedule. It was canceled for a month and a half in 1996 due to high production costs, but Fox brought the show back after an uproar from fans and law fighters at large. This time, word is Fox couldn't get past the budgeting issues and Lifetime jumped in to save the day.

Stay tuned for more info on when America's Most Wanted will premiere in its new home.